An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
We (voluntarily, even) got up around 4:30am and set off to Borobudur Temple to see the sun rise. It is the largest Buddhist monument in the world, was built in the 9th century of dark gray volcanic stone, and is said to have taken 10,000 men over 100 years to construct. In interesting counterpoint to Angkor City which has been cleaned up but not rebuilt, Borobudur has been renovated/reconstructed so that it now stands virtually intact as it was originally built. While that makes it certainly more beautiful today, at Angkor one can look at drawings and use imagination to grasp the past grandeur, all the more stunning for how well preserved the existant structures and carvings are. We weren’t sure which method we liked better. Borobudur is a giant square stupa, with 5 levels - each slightly smaller than the one below it - lined with carved sandstone reliefs, topped with 3 levels containing 72 moderately sized bell-shaped stupas (each containing a stone buddha) and topped with an enormous domed stupa, representing Nirvana. (it is this complex of stupas that Amanjiwo is patterned after)
We climbed the steep steps in the eerie darkness, then sat near the top and watched the dawn break over the Central Java plain. In the distance, straight ahead and to our left were two towering volcanoes, one of which - Marapi - is thought to be poised for an tremendous eruption. As it began to get light, we saw the plentiful mist moving around at all levels of the mountains and lush green valley floor - truly otherworldly. We then walked around some of the levels of the Temple. The panels of carvings all tell stories, and we followed the one showing and telling of the birth and journey of the original buddha, Siddhartha. As in Angkor, the detail and quantity of the carvings is almost beyond comprehension (though we were glad we had Jack to interpret for us!), as the total walkways of all five levels of carvings add up to over 3 miles. Having taken all the pictures we could, we set off for back home with a quick stop at Mendut - another, smaller temple. It, too, contained many carved panels, but was most notable for the 10-foot high carved buddha inside, considered the finest in Java. It also had the most enormous flowing banyon tree in front.
We returned to our own Nirvana and enjoyed breakfast of eggs with salmon and brioche, a mushroom omlette and, of course, iced fresh mint tea and watermelon juice. We then went to our room and napped for two hours. Upon waking, as it was too hot to do anything outside, we stayed in and read, followed by a room service lunch. We had salads, the same veggie/rice dish as last night, the same garlic pita bread, and a fabulous grilled chicken with a spicy coconut sauce. We also enjoyed our first Bintang, the local quite good beer. Then it was time for more r & r. Unfortunately, it had begun raining, so Milton’s 4:00 trek was cancelled. So while Wendy enjoyed more local therapeutic treatments, Milton went outside to the gardened patio to read, sitting on the well-cushioned seat under the large thatched roof covering.
Over the course of the next three hours, the storm really got wild. At one point, while it was already raining, a sound arose in the near distance that I first thought was some machinery that kept getting progressively louder until I realized that it was more advancing rain, which shortly arrived with ferocity. This storm (evidently a frequent late afternoon occurance here, though this one was definitely aberrationally strong) with its omnipresent thunder and lightning, didn’t have the destructive and rapid violence of the one we watched from our terrace in Amalfi, nor the visual entertainment of the lightning storm on the Serengeti plain, but it was memorably powerful in its duration and volume. Through it all, the broad thatch roof kept the sitting area fairly dry, and the halogen light in its ceiling allowed for consistent absorption of “The Glass Bead Game”. For an interesting accompaniment to the noise and the rainfall, around 6pm the familiar yet exotic Call To Prayer began its amplified wailing in the distance and continued for 10 minutes or so. Finally, the rain subsided, and we ordered a quick in-room dinner before heading off to the Trance Dance.
We enjoyed a few of Amanjiwo’s greatest hits — gazpacho, noodles and chicken in chicken broth, greek salad and a fish specialty that we couldn’t really understand the description of over the phone and it ended up being fried, so though it was good, we just picked at it. They also threw in some rice balls (which were light green colored, but tasted like really good marshmallow) coated in coconut filled with sugar syrup, that were one of the best things of the trip!!
Then it was off around 9:30 to the local Trance Dance. We drove a few minutes to a local village, and took seats on a covered porch, since it was still raining lightly. There appeared to be about 100 other observers, including many children. The dance took place in a small field - lit by a few bare flourescent bulbs - which had basically become a plain of shallow mud. It went on for about 90 minutes, with a rhythmic pounding of a large drum and a big xylophone-type instrument; that the two guys played so consistently strongly and kept the few different (though not that different) beats for that long was damn impressive. But the “dances” — anywhere from 1 to 12 or so men, in various weird and colorful costumes, many “riding” wooden horses strapped between their legs, gyrated sometimes together to the music, sometimes wildly. They then ate some sort of flowers from a large bowl that sent them into a trance. Some of them seemed to still be here while others definitely looked and moved like they were elsewhere - or possessed by spirits, as is the idea. They would occasionally wallow in the mud and ate fruit brought out as an offering to the spirits, sometimes picking it out of the mud and then eating it. Once, the music paused and started again, but one of the dancers who’d by then entered his trance really started to freak out, so they quickly deduced that the spirits wanted a different beat, so they complied and he went back to his gyrations. Eventually, most of the participants collapsed - one at a time - and were dragged away. Through it all, the children stayed mostly mesmerized (not a lot of tv or videos around here), despite them (and us) getting splashed with mud flung from the dancers. Having been up before dawn, we were bordering on going into a trance ourselves, but we managed to stay awake despite the incessant, lulling rhythmic music.
Finally, all the dancers had gone to wherever it was that the spirits took them, and we went back home, where we amused ourselves with our own Trance Dance interpretations, then passed out for the night.